


All Too Human

by Tarlan



Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: Angst, Community: trope_bingo, M/M, Trope Bingo Round 2, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 03:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mick recalls what it was like to be human for a short time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Too Human

**Author's Note:**

> Created for **Trope Bingo** Round Two prompt - au: mundane

"Get off me! Get off me!"

With his back pressed against the wall, Mick could barely move as Josef held him in place using vampiric strength, and Mick felt the anger drain from him as he felt Josef's fingers loosen their tight grip on him. He managed to stumble away as Josef released him, feeling the bruises in his aching back from where he'd been thrown against the wall. Bruises upon bruises, as he recalled the hard beating he'd taken not so long ago.

He had reveled in the pain after that beating because only humans felt that dull ache of muscle and bone that told them they were so very much alive. Only humans felt the sting of the sun's hot hiss on their naked skin long after the sun had gone down. He could feel the sun's burn from where he had walked along the beach under the midday sun, felt the tightness of his skin that had not healed immediately along with the aches and pains. His skin still held the blossom of bruises and the sharper sting of cuts.

Only humans felt the ache in his stomach from consuming too much food - too much fat and sugar. Too much of everything but he'd gorged himself, wanting to taste everything that had tasted like sawdust for so many decades. 

He had moved around the apartment collecting weapons at a human speed, not really noticing because he had tried to hold on tight to the human world for the whole of his vampire existence. A survival instinct really - and the price of living among humans that even Josef adhered to because the day had not yet come when humans and vampires could openly share this world. They needed to be seen as human and not as vampire for the most part.

"I hope I made my point," Josef said softly with a voice full of compassion and apology.

Mick didn't need to answer but the words fell softly anyway. Yeah, Josef had made his point all too clear. As a mere human he was no match for the vampires who had taken Beth, and all he would do is end up fully dead. His own death was not an issue but Josef had made another point earlier that cut just as deeply, that if he died then Josef would likely die with him. 

It was humiliating and humbling at the same time, that this man - this vampire who had lived for hundreds of years - would give up his eternal existence to protect him, Mick St. John, the Human Liability. His friend and occasional lover. Memories of these human days rushed through him and he saw now that he had focused only on what he had gained by being human and not on what he had lost by no longer being a vampire.

He had been fooling himself by believing he could go up against these vampires as a human, and yet he could not leave Beth in their hands. His Beth. The child he had saved from Coraline and watched over as she grew into a beautiful woman. The child who had grown up and seduced him with her beauty and intelligence, making him want to be human again just so he could grow old and die with her by his side.

Yet here was Josef who was equally willing to give up eternity - for him - and as much as he loved Beth, Mick realized that he had wanted to give her only a human lifetime whereas he wanted forever with Josef. She deserved her lifetime though, even if he couldn't stay with her, and for that reason alone he needed to become a vampire again.

As he felt his human life slipping away, he couldn't help grieving for the midday sun and the taste of wine and hamburgers and ice cream. He grieved for the dull aches that disappeared and the bruises that faded away to leave no blemish on his skin. For a time he had become an ordinary man once more, with a fragile body holding a strong beating heart.

The first droplets of Josef's blood smacked against his lips and he sought the metallic tang with the tip of his tongue, reaching up with renewed strength and a desperate instinct to survive. Josef's blood was sweeter than any nectar or ambrosia, and he suckled greedily, feeling every human cell in his body die and be reborn vampire.

***

Later, with Beth safe in her home, Mick sought out Josef and paused beside him on the balcony overlooking the night-time city, which looked magical to his vampire eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Mick."

Mick rested a hand on Josef's shoulder and gently persuaded Josef to face him. He reached up and cupped Josef's face in both of his hands before leaning in and pressing his lips gently against Josef's. The kiss lasted but a sweet moment.

"I'm not," he stated solemnly, knowing he had finally come to terms with what he was - a vampire. "This is who I am. Who I am meant to be."

"And will it be enough?"

Mick smiled, shaking his head minutely. "No... But if you can overlook my brooding for the next five decades then..."

Josef smiled boyishly. "I'm a patient man."

"And a lover not a fighter."

Josef raised both eyebrows. "Is that your latest chat-up line?"

"Did it work?"

Mick grinned as Josef moved with vampire speed, laughing as he was dumped onto the large bed in Josef's bedroom, and stripped naked in the blink of a human's eye.

Later, when he lay alone in his freezer, perhaps he would dream of those precious hours in the sun, and of being all too human for a short time. But as long as he had Josef by his side or in his arms, those few memories would be more than enough to last him through the rest of eternity.

END


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